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GOP Blocks Dem Effort To Chastise Issa’s Conduct

Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Rep Darrell Issa, R-CA, speaks during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the Benghazi attacks in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on September 19, 2013. AFP PHOTO/Mandel NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)File photo of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. (credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans have blocked an attempt by Democrats to chastise California Republican Darrell Issa for his conduct at a committee hearing.

Issa abruptly adjourned a hearing of the House Oversight Committee Wednesday. He instructed committee staff to turn off the microphone of the committee’s top Democrat, congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

The hearing was on the improper targeting of tea party groups by the Internal Revenue Service. Cummings was trying to say that Republicans have overblown the controversy.